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Summary
Summary
From 2008 Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz comes an exhilarating adventure -- and a thoroughly original fairy who is a true force of nature.
What would happen to a fairy if she lost her wings and could no longer fly? Flory, a young night fairy no taller than an acorn and still becoming accustomed to her wings -- wings as beautiful as those of a luna moth -- is about to find out. What she discovers is that the world is very big and very dangerous. But Flory is fierce and willing to do whatever it takes to survive. If that means telling others what to do -- like Skuggle, a squirrel ruled by his stomach -- so be it. Not every creature, however, is as willing to bend to Flory's demands. Newbery Medal winner Laura Amy Schlitz and world-renowned illustrator and miniaturist Angela Barrett venture into the realm of the illustrated classic -- a classic entirely and exquisitely of their making, and a magnificent adventure.
Author Notes
Laura Amy Schlitz is the writer of the 2008 Newbery Medal-winning Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from the Medieval Village and the 2013 Newbery Medal-winning Spendors and Glooms.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
All is not well in fairyland, at least for Flory, a young night fairy whose wings were broken during an encounter with a bat. Feeling vulnerable when unable to fly, Flory finds shelter in a wren house and decides to become a day fairy despite her nocturnal bent ("She soon found that her body did not like the day. Her skin liked to be cool and moist, not hot and dry"). In this whimsical and cozy tale, Newbery Medalist Schlitz (Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village) explores what it's like for a tiny winged creature to be grounded. Readers will delight in Flory's resourcefulness in finding food, clothing, and a new form of transportation (on the back of a squirrel), and identify with her brash, childlike personality ("I hate, hate, hate bats, and I'm always going to hate them"), which softens as she grows compassionate and makes friends. Culminating with Flory's brave act of saving a hummingbird caught in a spider's web, this story reveals how handicaps can be overcome through quick thinking and determination. Full-color art not seen by PW. Ages 7-11. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Flora, a very young night fairy, is nearly eaten by a hungry bat and is left flightless and with an understandable hatred for all things chiropteran. Making her home in an abandoned wren house, she vows to become a day fairy and thus avoid bats altogether. She loves the beautiful flying creatures of the day even if her skin longs for the night air and her eyes are burned by the sun. Schlitz explores Flora's moral development, magical spells, and cleverness as she learns to wield a dagger with a vengeance, sting predators with her mind, and make friends with squirrels and hummingbirds. The delicious realization that the "giantess's" world is really our own is satisfying, especially the humorous descriptions of squirrel behavior at bird feeders. At times, the world being built here seems a tad arbitrary -- why does Flora have magical ability to keep herself warm but no ability to fend off hunger? Still, when all is revealed to our maturing heroine and forgiveness is extended to the bat world, young readers and listeners will sigh with relief. Fans of Dahl's Minpins, Huygen's Gnomes, and Cannon's Stellaluna will enjoy Flora's wit and derring-do and will, no doubt, spend countless hours imagining new adventures for her in their backyard fairy houses. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* A bat mistakes Flory, a young fairy, for a moth and crunches up her wings. Falling into a beautiful garden, she lands in a cherry tree and makes her home there. As egocentric as any young child, Flory is sensitive mostly to her own needs and emotions until a series of experiences challenge her assumptions and awaken new feelings within her. When she finds a hummingbird trapped in a spider's web, she resolves to save the bird, but the task becomes increasingly complex and dangerous. Flory must call on cunning and magic as well as her strength and courage to get the job done. Known for her versatility, Newbery-winner Schlitz writes with strength of vision and delicate precision of word choice. A far cry from the conventionally sweet, whimsical stories about diminutive fairies, this tale begins with violence and ends with redemption. In between is an imaginative adventure story in a familiar, yet exotic landscape. English illustrator Angela Barrett contributes 10 small pictures at chapter heads, a dozen colorful full-page paintings, and a double-page spread. Beautifully composed, the artwork combines subtle use of color with a keen observation of nature that's reminiscent of Beatrix Potter's work. This finely crafted and unusually dynamic fairy story is a natural for reading aloud.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-4-In this deft, imaginative story (Candlewick, 2010) by Newbery winner Laura Amy Schlitz (Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!), a young night fairy overcomes the loss of her wings in an accident and finds herself plunged into an unfamiliar daytime world full of predators. She lodges inside a wren house in the garden of a "giantess," who stocks the birdfeeders daily, and struggles to survive. Along the way, she befriends a hyper squirrel with a one-track mind (food, of course) and courageously faces her fears. She may be only as tall as two acorns, but Flory is no airy-fairy, and she acquits herself well when threatened by a praying mantis, a huge raccoon, and a deadly spider. Listeners will learn about empathy and friendship as they are inspired by the plucky heroine. Michael Friedman voices the fairy with verve and creates believable voices for the animals. Fans of Mary Norton's series, The Borrowers, will enjoy the adventures of the tiny fairy as she copes with the challenges of staying alive, armed only with stinging spells and a thorn dagger. Children will root for the resourceful fairy, perhaps imagining her further exploits and recording them with illustrations in a journal.-Lonna Pierce, MacArthur Elementary School, Binghamton, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
